Amargosa River Expert BioBlitz April 7-9th, 2017 Final Report Photo credit: Janine Knapp Please cite this document as: Parker, S.S., B.S. Cohen, N. Fraga, B. Brown, J. Cole, W. Chatfield-Taylor, K. Guadalupe, G.B. Pauly, D. Cooper, and M. Ordeñana. 2017. Amargosa River Expert BioBlitz. Unpublished Report. The Nature Conservancy. Los Angeles, California. 50 pp. ii Report Contributors: Sophie S. Parker The Nature Conservancy [email protected] Brian S. Cohen The Nature Conservancy [email protected] Naomi Fraga Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden [email protected] Brian Brown Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County [email protected] Jeffrey Cole Pasadena City College [email protected] Will Chatfield-Taylor [email protected] Kevin Guadalupe Nevada Department of Wildlife [email protected] Gregory B. Pauly Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County [email protected] Daniel Cooper Cooper Ecological Monitoring, Inc. [email protected] Miguel Ordeñana Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County [email protected] iii Acknowledgements We thank our agency partners at the Bureau of Land Management, particularly C. Otahal, who co-organized the Amargosa River BioBlitz. We also thank the Amargosa Conservancy for supporting the collection efforts, and private land owners B. Brown of China Ranch and S. Sorrells of Shoshone Village for hosting volunteers on their property. iv Table of Contents I. Introduction and Context: Amargosa Watershed Conservation .............................................. 1 II. What is an Expert BioBlitz? .................................................................................................... 2 III. Goals for the BioBlitz .......................................................................................................... 2 IV. Participants ........................................................................................................................... 2 V. Methods ................................................................................................................................... 4 a. Origination of the BioBlitz .................................................................................................. 4 b. Preparation and Reconnaissance .......................................................................................... 5 c. BioBlitz Logistics ................................................................................................................ 5 d. Methods Used by Each Group ............................................................................................. 6 i. Plants, Fungi, and Soil Biological Crusts ......................................................................... 6 ii. Arthropods ........................................................................................................................ 7 iii. Reptiles and Amphibians ................................................................................................. 7 iv. Aquatic Mollusks and Fish ............................................................................................... 8 v. Birds ................................................................................................................................. 8 vi. Mammals .......................................................................................................................... 8 VI. Results .................................................................................................................................. 8 a. Results of Data Collection ................................................................................................... 8 b. Comparison of Findings with 1972 Study ........................................................................... 9 c. Participant Involvement and Costs .................................................................................... 10 VII. Challenges and Recommendations .................................................................................... 10 a. Coordination of Fieldwork ............................................................................................. 10 b. Ensuring Coverage ......................................................................................................... 11 c. Collection Impacts .......................................................................................................... 12 d. Building Long-term Relationships with BioBlitz Participants ...................................... 12 e. Inclusion of Children ...................................................................................................... 14 f. Costs and Funding .......................................................................................................... 14 VIII. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 15 IX. References .......................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix A. Map.......................................................................................................................... 17 Appendix B. Plants ....................................................................................................................... 18 v Appendix C. Arthropods ............................................................................................................... 30 Appendix D. Aquatic Mollusks and Fish ...................................................................................... 37 Appendix E. Reptiles and Amphibians ......................................................................................... 38 Appendix F. Birds ......................................................................................................................... 39 Appendix G. Mammals ................................................................................................................. 49 vi I. Introduction and Context: Amargosa Watershed Conservation The Amargosa River and associated wetland areas are found near the center of the Mojave Desert Ecoregion, and cross the border from the Nevada desert, into California. This exceptional cluster of aquatic habitats contains one of the most outstanding suites of endemic and imperiled species in the world. Because it is far from the rapid urban development areas of Las Vegas and Victorville/Hesperia, the Amargosa River Watershed has not undergone large-scale land conversion. However, dropping water levels caused by the pumping of groundwater for agricultural use, along with pressures to develop lands for residential or industrial uses, constitute significant threats to biodiversity in this region. Since the early 1970s, The Nature Conservancy has worked in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management to protect the biodiversity found within the Amargosa River Watershed. These efforts have included land acquisition, restoration, scientific study, and conservation- focused management of lands along the Amargosa River. The Bureau of Land Management designated the vicinity as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern in 1983. In 2009, Congress designated a 26-mile stretch of the Amargosa in California as a Wild and Scenic River, and in 2016, the completion of the Desert Renewable Energy and Conservation Plan’s Land Use Planning Amendment designates most the lands surrounding the California portion of the river as California Desert National Conservation Lands. With these protections comes a need to effectively inform the conservation management of these lands, and that in turn requires knowledge gained through scientific inquiry. While we recognize that a select suite of ongoing research and surveys involving several agencies, institutions, and organizations is currently underway along the Amargosa River, we also have a need to continue to foster a comprehensive, multi-taxon understanding of the unique biodiversity of this place. We’ve arranged for a BioBlitz to explore this area to gain additional information about the suite of organisms that occupy the Amargosa Canyon area. This short-term, high intensity survey effort will involve a broad suite of experts skilled in the identification of plants, animals, and natural communities and resources. As of 2017, most the high-quality, riparian and spring-fed habitats along the Amargosa River in California are now in public ownership, and are being managed for biodiversity values. Still, the elements of biodiversity found within these habitats depend on the presence of springs, seeps, and river flow for their survival. Because the Amargosa River is fed by alluvial and deep groundwater aquifers, it is subject to excessive groundwater pumping within the surrounding region, including the communities and businesses located near and around the towns of Pahrump and Amargosa Valley, Nevada. In order to ensure that the biodiversity of the Amargosa River is maintained, we must ensure the sustainable and continued natural expression of groundwater as seeps and springs and river base flow within this region. The 2017 Amargosa River Expert BioBlitz was timed to occur 45 years after the original 1972 multi-taxon surveys conducted by various entities and documented by the Desert Pupfish Preservation Committee (DPPC 1972). This will give us an opportunity to compare findings across time, and see if any changes have occurred in the species present in this location. 1 II. What is an Expert BioBlitz? We organized